Third Floor Restaurant, JW Marriott Hotel, Kuala Lumpur

I really miss all the fine dining we used to have in the UK, so when Hubby told me he was going to treat me to a fine dining meal in KL, I was ecstatic. Since we were staying at the Ritz and I have heard good things about the nearby Third Floor Restaurant located in JW Marriott Hotel from a friend, we decided to give this place a try.

When we arrived, there were only 2 other tables dining there. It made me wonder if it was a sign that the restaurant's food wasn't good or perhaps not many people go for fine dining on a weekday?

I have to say I was not very impressed with the service here. It took the waitress 3 attempts before she brought us the right menu. (Firstly, she brought us an empty menu - just the cover with no menu. Then she gave one of us the "summer menu" when it was supposed to be the "winter menu"). We also ordered our dessert well in advance of the recommended "20 minutes" waiting time, but the dessert still took more than 40 minutes to arrive.

The menu looked pretty ordinary on paper and nothing really stood out. Originally, I wanted to have their degustation menu but it seems like they now only have a set menu (5-course) which didnt look too impressive.

Having said that, the food turned out to be very good. We were served a complimentary cheese tart for our amuse bouche.

Hubby had the scallop salad with endives, walnut, blue cheese (RM58) - the scallops were cooked to perfection, however the walnuts were missing from the salad (they were supposed to be part of the deal). I had the lobster bisque (RM38), which wasn't very memorable.

Cheese tart

Scallop salad

Lobster bisque

For main course, I had the Australian wagyu beef cheeks with Sarawak pepper, and shallot red wine sauce (RM88). The beef cheeks were tender although I think it was slightly burnt but I couldn't confirm my suspicion as the restaurant was too dark. Overall, it was a nicely prepared dish.

Hubby had the pan seared seabass with vegetable julienne (RM68) after much deliberation. He was happy with his choice - the tangy sauce complemented the perfectly cooked fish.
I ordered the souffle (RM32), but it was a very long wait. It was served with warm chocolate sauce (to be poured over the souffle) and chocolate ice-cream. The warm chocolate sauce complemented the souffle very well. A delicious combination.
Hubby had the warm chocolate cake with vanilla ice-cream (RM28) which was very nice too.
We were also served complimentary petit fours - bitter chocolate, walnuts (perhaps to make up for the missing walnuts from Hubby's dish) and pistachio wafers.

One of the things I was most disappointed with was the lighting in the place. It was so so dark in there so all my food pictures turned out really crappy! :-(

Comfort: Too cold! I was freezing by the end of the meal.
Service: Poor.
Price: Expensive. RM400 for 2 persons (without wine).
Food: Food made up for the poor service.
Location: Third Floor Restaurant, JW Marriott Hotel, 183 Jalan Bukit Bintang, 55100 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.